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so it’s that time of year again, where are you hit the panic button for any weigh you still haveto lose. It’s that time when whatever slacking you’ve done is about to cause to you to go over the edge! bathing suit season is right there just a few weeks away and you’re wondering if the whole body 1920s bathing suits are ever going to come back in style. I have decided to do the 3 day diet, also known as the cabbage soup diet, and report on the results. This is your standard low calorie diet but with the level of fruits and vegetables that are a part of it it is less detrimental then many of the crash diets. this is by no means an endorsement of the diet. It is more or less an experiment with not only how easy it is but also its effectiveness, its overall results and the side effects if any. My intention is to start the diet tomorrow and report every day on my results. so expect to see numbers and explanations in the coming days.

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You can breathe a sigh of relief. We’re going to spare you the lecture filled with impractical “rules” for what you should or shouldn’t eat at the salad bar. Instead, we’re going to level with you about how to refine a few of your salad bar habits with some practical tips.

Don’t worry, that doesn’t include discussing table napkin etiquette or a brief history of the salad fork (that’s the smaller, shorter fork, by the way). But it does include tips for how you can eat the foods you want while keeping your diet in check.

You might avoid the iceberg and head straight for romaine, kale, spinach, and mixed greens, but it doesn’t take much to ruin what could be a healthy meal. Calorie-dense add-ons like shredded cheese, pasta, or those crunchy sesame noodles won’t cause your spare tire to inflate . . . if you are mindful that they are much higher in calories than nutrient-packed veggies like cucumbers and peppers, or fruits like apricots and tomatoes.

Greek SaladFats are essential. Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats found in salmon, eggs, olive oil, avocados, and nuts can help fight disease and regulate cholesterol levels. But an ounce of fat also contains more than twice as many calories as an ounce of carbohydrates or protein, so a truck-sized load of “good” fat on your plate still spells bad news for your gut.

Don’t avoid fats entirely. Just don’t pile them on. Use the thumb rule. When you’re adding a serving of a fatty food, use about a thumb’s worth. Generally, you don’t need more than two thumbs’ worth of fat on a salad, so maybe a wedge of avocado and a small spoonful of chopped nuts. (And you thought thumbs were just for rating movies.)

Mistake #3: Your Plate is Monochromatic

No need to hit every shade on the color wheel, but a hodgepodge of reds, oranges, yellows, and greens does more than pretty up your salad; it adds variety to your diet and delivers a variety of essential nutrients—particularly phytonutrients, which are unique to fruits and veggies—when consumed.

Since variables like your sex, age, and how active you are determine how many fruits and vegetables you should consume per day, let this plug-and-play calculator from the Center from Disease Control and Prevention crunch the numbers for you.

If you’ve turned your back on carbs, fearing they’ll make you fat, it’s time to put your hat in hand and apologize to them. Carbohydrates don’t make you fat (hint: lettuce—and all other vegetables—are carbs); consuming too many calories does. So if you’re training hard, you most likely want to go heavier on the healthy carbs, given they’re your body’s primary fuel source.

“Body weight can increase after a carbohydrate-rich meal because carbs hold water in the body,” Clark says. “When you carbo-load, for every ounce of carbohydrates you store in your muscle as glycogen, you store about three ounces of water. So when someone eats a bunch of pasta and wakes up the next day feeling like they’ve gained two pounds, they have gained water weight, not fat”

Mistake #5: You Really Love Dressing

We’ve all done it; after pouring our blood, sweat, and tears into making a perfectly balanced salad, the whole operation goes kablooey after we drown it in an inch of dressing.

“Put the dressing in a side dish, dip your fork into the dressing, and then stab a forkful of salad,” she suggests. “You can also dilute the dressing with water, vinegar, or even some milk if it’s a creamy dressing.” Clark adds,”A little bit of dressing on a big salad can be a lot of dressing. Say three tablespoons of dressing is 200 calories. If you have six tablespoons worth of dressing, that’s 400 calories. So if you’re using all of it, you could have had a piece of pizza.”

Have a big date or party coming up and just a couple of days to prepare for it? We have shortcuts to looking head-to-toe spectacular.

Get a Sexy Body

1. To de-bloat, try this quick detox diet. You’re going to have five meals a day for two days. For the first four meals, whip up a shake made of a) a scoop of protein powder equaling 20 grams of protein, b) a handful of fresh or frozen berries, c) a teaspoon of flaxseed oil, d) ice and water. For the fifth meal, grill or bake four ounces of lean protein (fish, chicken, or turkey breast), one and a half cups of steamed vegetables, and five nuts or olives.

3. Drink at least four cups of water plus four cups of green tea (it’s a great fat burner) each day. And nix alcohol, which is high in calories, slows down your metabolism, and makes a mockery of your willpower.

4. Don’t eat later than 8 p.m. Chowing down at night will leave you puffy and sluggish the next day. Plus, it interrupts the production of the growth hormones that your body produces at night, which decrease body fat and build muscle mass.

5. On that note, get between seven and eight hours of sleep a night to give your body enough time to make those growth hormones. Even just a couple nights of good sleep will make a big difference.

6. Two days before the event, start increasing your workout to 90 minutes. Do 30 minutes of cardio, followed by 30 minutes of weights, and then finish up with another half hour of cardio. This will give you instant definition. Can’t swing 90 minutes? Aim for one hour.

1. Exfoliate your entire body in the shower the night before the party for smooth, gleaming skin.

2.To get a summery glow in the dead of winter, swipe a self-tanning towelette over your skin. Try Kate Somerville 360° TanningTowelettes, $45, sephora.com. It’s easy to use, and the color is gradual — if you want a deeper color, just use a second towelette.

3. The fastest way to fix puffy eyes or dark circles: Brew two green tea bags, and let them cool. Then lie down and place them over your eyes for 10 minutes. The caffeine will tighten the tissue and reduce swelling. Or, pick up an eye rollerball that contains caffeine, which constricts the blood vessels that cause dark circles; the rollerball tip also lets you massage the area under your eyes to help break up lymphatic build-up that brings on puffiness. Try First Aid Beauty Detox Eye Roller, $24, firstaidbeauty.com.

4. If you have a zit, shrink it on the spot by wrapping an ice cube in a thin dish towel and resting it on the pimple for three minutes. This will alleviate inflammation and redness. Then cover the zit with a dab of lavender oil, which will dehydrate the blemish and kill bacteria.

5. Sleep is as crucial for your complexion as it is for your figure, so don’t skimp on it. Your body replenishes skin cells and produces collagen and elastin (which keep your skin strong and plump) while you’re sleeping.

Score Head-Turning Hair

1. The day of the event, use a volumizing shampoo to give your hair extra body.

2. Follow with a deep-conditioning hair masque. Leave it on for three to five minutes for major shine. Bonus: Add a couple of Ken Paves Healthy Hair Boost Up Color Drops, $19.99, shopkenpaves.com, to the conditioner. It will intensify and brighten your color.

3. For a super blowout, let your hair air-dry for several minutes before using a blow-dryer. Working with two-inch-wide sections of hair, lift each section with a round brush, blast the roots to amp up volume, and then angle the nozzle of the blow-dryer down as you run the brush through your hair, curling the ends under. This will smooth out flyaways.

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I am a tools person. I like to have the right tools for the job, I kind of need as little reason NOT to do a thing as humanly possible. I am a recovering procrastinator and things that help to combat the ability to do that help me immensely. These are some of my little digital buddies that help get me off my butt and moving.

Blogilates an app ( finally also for Android) to help move and motivate you towards your goals. This has great calendars and challenges.

Water Your Body ; OK, I am a water drinker BUT it is very easy for me to get busy and realize that I have had maybe 16 total oz of water in 8 hours. Since water is the easiest and simplest way to clarify your body and help with appetite , I put this down as one of my fitness apps.